Reason #14 to live with me

You get married!

I mean lets look at the facts. Four straight years of engaged roommates (I count Missy as a roomie, the wall between our apartments was merely a technicality.)

Year 1: Senior year of college and oh what a good year it was! The Linden house, afterCRU, rickers runs, and all kinds of silliness. The roommates: Katie Howel and Lani Martin. The weddings: two weeks apart and in the summer following that school year. They were part of the first big wave of friends to get married and it was so fun! We were in on all the details and all the drama and I loved it! Now they both have adorable little ones!

Year 2:1st year STINT Crazy may be the only way to describe the year as was the engagement. We all admired you Adam for your (jet lagged) perseverance on the marathon trip to ask Cara to be your bride! The roommate: Cara Smith The wedding: planned from East Asia and beautiful from all accounts, but seen only through pictures as it occurred the following October while I was still in EA. Congrats Cara and Adam on the new arrival Truett Weber!

Year 3: 2nd year STINT "and all that drama" may be the best tag line for the year, but none of it was wedding. The roommate (for all practical purpose): Missy Stull who wisely put the major details of wedding in place before heading over to EA in the month and a half she had engaged in the US. The wedding: June 21st (I believe, I know its the summer solstice) of this year and I know it will be gorgeous!

Year 4: Grad School Year 1 which may be referred to from here on out as "the year of healing" and a lot of that is thanks to my two amazing roommates. The roommates: Melissa Heyne who walked into my life (and "my world") is East Asia as the most positive person I have ever met and has lived as my roomie for nine months as the most patient listener I may ever know. The wedding: yesterday. And I am a terrible roommate who had to present at a conference in Indy and this missed the ceremony. But I made it to the reception! And she was beautiful, it was beautiful, even the wedding party looked like something out of a bridal magazine. From what I hear the ceremony was truly a worship service for all involved to meet with the Lord, and that's what this couple stands for. Yay Drew and Melissa!

Let me not forget to mention that this year also included the wedding of my younger sister Hillary to Bobby Brown (I know, his name is awesome). As the maid-o-honor and sister of the bride, I lived this one more up close than any of the others I think. It was such a blast and they are such a cute couple!

Year 5? I've already put my prediction on the table for next year. I mean I am on a role here and at this point I have a "stored" file in the back of my brain full of wedding-on-a-budget tips, wedding etiquette, do it yourself how to's, etc. that we can't let go to waist! of course the (20 year old) girls I am living with keep telling me it might be my turn (they must know something I don't)

So, the next time I am looking for a roommate I just might mention this as a perk for living with me! :)

what the heck...

happened to xanga while I was gone? It took like 5 minutes to figure out how to write a new entry.

Anyway...

I'm getting antsy. I always get antsy this time of the semester. Like, hey lets fly to a new country antsy or change life plans antsy. I run through the common thoughts: should I join staff? Should I move back to EA? Should I (insert anything totally different than living in Muncie here)?

And I've been thinking through STINT. The good, the bad, the damaging. I miss my friends and my way of life in EA, miss riding the bus and easy Saturdays, and everything meaning so much; and by miss I mean thank the Lord for what an amazing, life changing experience I had. I wonder what to do about old scars and still gaping wounds and discarded relationships. I'm still trying to figure out what walking with the Lord looks like on this side of all that.

I'm a verbal processor. Like sometimes I need to talk through things four times to really wrap my mind around it and decide what I think. I haven't been doing that a lot lately (though my roommate got a good earful today, love my roomies!) and I think I could process outloud for days straight and still not understand.

And in case someone happens upon this wondering where I am headed (in the midst of being antsy and wanting to change it all) I feel like the only direction the Lord has given me is to pursue being a professor and to be totally open to throwing that out the window at any moment. Ok! So I am finishing my first year of grad school, planning for my second, and preparing to apply to doctoral school. FSU is my first pick, with Northwestern, Purdue, Uni of New Mexico, and Boston UMASS also on the list at the moment. I feel like I am in a time of preparation, stuck in a time of preparation, and not very good at waiting well. Maybe I'll learn how to do that in the process.

Like I said, totally open to that plan getting turned upside down. I heard about an interesting opportunity in Shanghai involving a burrito stand...

coming up on a year back in the States before too long and its so weird. Some days I forget I ever lived overseas. Then I think mei wenti or shenme? (Still can't spell that one) a friend's xanga tag line says "back from STINT and it can never be the same." Agreed.

uhm...side of the earth...we think Christine fell off...

Nope! Still here, though here is a totally different world from last time. And for that I am glad. Don't get me wrong, there are things every day that I miss about EA, but for the first time in about 14 months I truly feel like I am where the Lord wants me. and that is so good. so, so good.

So life now is full of stats class and homework, preschool and field trips, fun roommates and awesome b-stud girls, and weekends spent workin away at HH gregg. It's good and I just found out my schedule for next semester rocks.

I'm checking out doctoral programs and looking for a car to lease. Let me know if you have thoughts on either.

That's all for now. I have to be at preschool at 7:30 am, a little early for my taste.

Friends in EA, you are prayed for and missed!

more of an update than a good blog...

I move to Muncie this weekend. I start work at HH Gregg in Muncie Friday. I start work at the BSU preschool August 14th and I start grad school August 20th.

Not sure if I am ready for all this. But change is the fabric of our lives (remember that cotton commercial? sing it with me- Cotton...the fabric of our lives) Anyway. At least I can handle trips to target by myself these days.

I'm feeling pretty optomistic about life these days :) BSU here I come, again.

Is it possible to have delayed jet lag? I mean I was totally on a normal schedule by like day 4 (the first day I stayed awake past sunset). But now I am wide awake way late, wake up for hours in the middle of the night, sleep in late, and am still tired all the time. It may be that I am not awake that late but my frame of reference is scewed by everyone else in my house being in bed at ten. And I don't sleep well because the bed I am sleeping in is so so soft (dare I say too soft?) which I am not used to...I don't know. Maybe it's delayed jet lag. Maybe its preparing to return to a college student schedule :)

In other randomness, I am excited for this weekend. I get to hang out with lots of people who have been to east asia for a week, summer, year, or two years and that's fun for me. Easy and comfortable because they get it without the 5 minutes to 5 hours of background that make a joke/story/thought work. And wicked fun because, well they just are wicked fun people. This may prove to be the breath of fresh (asian smelling) air I need.

I'm in uncharted waters right now in more ways than one and as much as I am all for being out of your comfort zone...well, this may be too far out in too many things for right now. And as I drove around muncie today I realized even the familiar waters are less than comfortable at the moment.

Re-entry. Love it.